Feels terrible, doesn't it?

Unemployment a little worse. Tell me about it.

Yesterday I spent all day calling headhunters, tapping personal contacts, trying to find a job. One friend I spoke with told me she knew 3 other people looking for work as a technology analyst. I talked to a salesman at a tier 1 firm who told me he has MBAs begging for unpaid internships so they can have something besides a blank on their resume. I wailed to a noted short-seller friend of mine that a guy like me with an affinity and inclination towards the short side should not have trouble finding a job in a declining market. I'm so frustrated.

Recessions led by financial problems feel particularly bad to those of us in the financial business -- it's so close to home, we read about it every day, the body count stacks up around our feet. The trouble flashes across our screens and every stab down in the futures is a painful reminder that things are not well in our world.

I've been hearing some frighteningly bad performance statistics for some major funds. I was out with some hedge funders the other night and one was talking about his friend at another multi-billion dollar fund that calls constantly, begging for shorts.

I'm right here, damn it.